Startup Lingo

In an age of eloquent words and slang terms, it’s hard to keep track of what means what, especially when venturing into the business world. It’s important to be familiar with common startup and entrepreneurship terms, not only when talking to investors, but also during the execution of your idea. Let’s see how many words you recognize:

-If you recognized at least 10 out of the 13 words: Congratulations, you’re well versed in the world of business lingo!

-If you recognized at least 7 out of the 13 words: You’ve got a pretty good idea about what’s going on.

-If you recognized at least 4 out of the 13 words: You’ve got some brushing up to do.

-If all of these words are new to you, see our reference definitions below to start building your business vocabulary!

Bum Rate– How quickly you are spending money

POC– Proof Of Concept, or evidence that your idea is feasible

SEO– Search Engine Optimization, how you are getting the most out of the web to promote

your idea (ex: Google Adwords)

CAC- Customer Acquisition Cost, or how much you have to spend to get customers

MVP- Minimum Viable Product, the quickest, cheapest way to get your idea off the ground

API- Application Programming Interface,a piece of computer code that allows different softwareapplications and databases to communicate with one another

ICO- Initial Coin Offering, or a means of fundraising where a company releases its own digital currency in exchange, typically, for ethereum or bitcoin

Business Model- explains how you are going to make money

Target Market- who specifically will be using your product or service

Competitors- who is in the same space as you (can be direct or indirect)

501(c)(3)- a non-profit organization who is exempted from federal taxes

B2B – a type of transaction that takes place between Business To Business

C2C- a type of transaction that takes place between Customer to Customer